Turning Points of the Civil War
1. Capture of New Orleans
Confederacy’s Largest Port
Confederacy’s Largest City
Mouth of the Mississippi River
Experiment in Reconstruction
2. Battle of Antietam
Army of the Potomac’s First “Victory”
Seven Days
Second Manassas
Effect on Great Britain
Opportunity for Lincoln
3. Emancipation Proclamation
Union war aim
Undermined Confederate War Effort
Foreign Policy Ramifications
4. Vicksburg Campaign
Closing of the Mississippi/Splitting Confederacy
Demoralization
Rise of U. S. Grant
5. Rise of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant
Integrated Strategy/Pressure on all points
Sherman’s March
Shenandoah Valley
Red River Campaign
Overland Campaign
Determination
Culmination of Total War
6. Election of 1864
Guarantees War Will Continue
Cements Republicans’ Power
Solidifies Lincoln’s Reputation
7. Sherman’s March
8. Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
Slave Power Conspiracy Continues
Bloody Shirt
Eliminates Alternative Reconstruction
Halts Lincoln’s Evolution on Race
Spring and Summer 1865
Lincoln Views the Future
10 per cent plan
The Second Inaugural
Two Weeks in April
Last Gasp at Appomattox
Assassination, Mourning, and a New World